JavaScript to WebAssembly: Evolution or Revolution?

For the month of July, we are joining forces with our friends at JavaScriptMN meetup to discuss WebAssembly. I hope to see active participation and friendly knowledge share from all attendees as we discuss the future of web with WebAssembly, and what it means for JavaScript?

Please note: DATE and LOCATION has changed. We will be meeting on 22nd of July at CoCo location in uptown.

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Google for the term "WebAssembly" (http://www.google.com/search?q=webassembly)! Lately, its all over the tech news world, and its about time we talk about it as a group and learn more.

Google, Microsoft, Mozilla, Apple and others are joining forces to bring WebAssembly to life! yes, they all seem to be in preliminary agreement that this would be a necessary evolution and a good thing to happen!!

Nobody knows for sure how quickly WebAssembly will take over the world, but if it does, how would it affect the SDLC of tomorrow? Even if WebAssembly standard/specification gains foothold, that does not mean browsers will stop supporting JavaScripts in near future, so very likely, we will see these two co-exist for at least a decade!

What will likely change is... skill set required for new application development projects will tilt more towards WebAssembly side within next 3 to 5 years.

• The next step in the evolution of JavaScript and asm.js is to do away with both of them. (arsTechnica)

• JavaScript creator Eich's latest project: KILL JAVASCRIPT (theRegister (http://www.theregister.co.uk/2015/06/18/brendan_eich_announces_webassembly/?mt=1434646320689))

It has been a long time dream of many to "dethrone" JavaScript programming language from browsers, and replace it with a compiled/bytecode-based solution. Three years ago, I too talked about the need and possibility of a somewhat of a thick-client sort of user experience rendering when I presented at MinneBar7 in 2012 (see slides 9, 10, 11 at http://bit.ly/minneabar7-slideshare )

Goal of this session is to discuss and understand what it is, how skill set requirements will change for projects of tomorrow, and what would world look like if WebAssembly is widely adopted.

From Ketan's presentation at MinneBar7 in 2012 (http://bit.ly/minneabar7-slideshare) :

http://photos4.meetupstatic.com/photos/event/5/f/2/4/600_438804356.jpeg

Agenda:

6:00pm to 6:30pm - Food and merriment (sponsored by the JavaScriptMN group), open networking, connect with others, make friends. Bring business cards.

6:30pm to 7:00pm - Sponsor recognition, announcements and more

7:00pm to 8:30pm - Lets talk about WebAssembly!

You may also want to checkout the JavaScriptMN (https://www.meetup.com/JavaScriptMN/events/221590575/)meetup description for more information on this topic.

Remember to not park in the CVS Lot! Plenty of parking in the surrounding area.